From left are Commissioners Harry Browne, Billy Billings, and Gabriel Ramos, former Commissioner Ron Hall receiving a recognition of his service from Commission Chairman Brett Kasten, and Commissioner Alicia Edwards. At back left is recently elected County Clerk Marissa Castrillo.

Photo and article by Mary Alice Murphy

The first Grant County Commission regular meeting of 2017, held on Jan.12, marked the first time the county has had a five-person commission.

Chairman Brett Kasten asked for a moment of silence. "Murray Ryan was a longtime state representative who did a lot for Grant County. He was an even better human being."

The first main item on the agenda was the election of a commission chairperson for 2017. Commissioner Gabriel Ramos nominated Kasten and Commissioner Alicia Edwards seconded the nomination. Kasten won unanimously.

"Thank you for your confidence," Kasten said.

For vice chairperson, the first time the county has required the second in command because of its now five-person commission, Commissioner Billy Billings nominated Ramos. Commissioner Harry Browne said he would like to nominate himself to think forward to have someone in training for the chairmanship.

Billings noted that Ramos has experience on the commission and next year would allow for another election of chairperson.

Edward asked Ramos if he would be interested in being chairman next year.

"Yes, but that's next year," Ramos said.

The voting resulted in Ramos receiving the vice chairmanship with all five votes for him.

Kasten asked for a change of agenda to introduce retired Commissioner Ron Hall. He asked Hall to "come on up. We have a memento for your service. You were steadfast through the term."

Hall laughed that when he was asked to run, he was told that nothing exciting ever happens.

During public input, three people came up to speak, with the last one introducing another.

Silver City Fire Marshal Milo Lambert, representing the County Shooting Range Board as chairman, said the range had hosted 5,000 shooters over the past year.

"We are working to stay in compliance," Lambert said. "We had a discussion of expansion of the range. We are updating our bylaws, and we are also updating the fee schedule to be more encompassing. The term of the board members expires in March, but we are seeing more interest in serving."

Browne asked if the 5,000 statistic was made up of individuals.

"You show up 10 times," Lambert said, "that's 10 daily visits."

Ramos said the Grant County Shooting Range is one of the best in the state. "You do a good job."

Chris DeBolt said: "First, I would like to thank you for what you are about to do as a five-person commission. I am from the Mimbres, and we are here to support you."

"I want you to know that this is the second time around for the hospital," DeBolt said. "Seeing what happened, things were not able to be sustained. The hospital industry is extremely complex. I think you need a member closer to the Board of Trustees, perhaps a non-voting member. It's too difficult an environment and too important for the community."

Jeremiah Garcia, chairman of the Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees, said: "You know we are going through a transitional period. I'm happy to put a team together to take care of the hospital. We had numerous applications for the interim chief executive officer. Health care is a 'beast,' and as Chris said, it is impacting all hospitals. This candidate for the interim position has a lot to bring to the table," Garcia said, as he introduced the interim CEO. "He's a long-time friend of Silver City, as we welcome him back. Mr. Alfredo Ontiveros."

"I'm here to introduce myself," Ontiveros said. "I've been here for three days. Yes, there are challenges, but they are not insurmountable. It's been 20 years since I served here as CEO for 1995-1998. I've since headed other hospitals. With my experience, I should be able to take positive action."

Billings said he met Ontiveros a couple of days ago. "We expect a lot from you and welcome you back."

Browne, too, said he had high expectations. "I would love input. We are interested in placing a non-voting member of this commission on the Board."

"This hospital is county-owned," Ontiveros said. "I worked with one other county-owned hospital in Ottawa, Kansas, but they had leased out the operations to a company. We did not have a commissioner on the board, but one attended every meeting."

A public hearing was held regarding any objection to the regularity, validity and correctness of the following for the Fleming Tank Road and Wind Canyon Estates Improvement District assessment roll hearing: the proceedings, the assessment roll, each assessment contained on the assessment roll, or the amount of the assessment levied against each tract or parcel of land.

Frank Bielfeldt, who has represented the residents in the process, said he wanted to express his gratitude to Ron Hall, "who has been our advocate and to Mischa Larisch and Ray Castillo. We thank them for getting us to this point."

With no objections, the hearing closed.

Financial Officer Linda Vasquez presented the expenditure report. The total expenditures include two pay periods for a total of $432,250.28 and extraordinary expenses of fuel charges by Wright Express Fleet Services for $22,187.59; a safety net care pool contribution of the second quarter of fiscal year 2017 to the New Mexico Human Services Department for $92,921.17; audit billing for FY 2016 to Stone McGee & Co. for $51,300; self-contained breathing apparatuses for the Lower Mimbres VFD to Artesia Fire Equipment for $78,324; and to Code 3 Service LLC for radio equipment for the volunteer fire departments and fire management office for $427,927.50 for total expenditures of $1,860,202.52. Commissioners approved the report.

Browne thanked Vasquez for fielding all the new commissioners' questions at the work session.

Heidi Ogas, president of the High Desert Humane Society, gave a comprehensive report on the working of the Animal Shelter. "We have an agreement with the county to provide animal control and housing. We have intake from throughout the county."

She reported that 436 dogs and 238 cats had been housed at the shelter in 2016. "Our return-to-owner numbers, especially of cats is up. We hope it's because we offer micro-chipping at the monthly vaccination clinics. It's only 18, but it's up."

"In yearly comparisons, our numbers are continuing to trend down," Ogas said. "The number of dogs went up last year, but we think it's just a fluctuation."

Browne noted from the written report that "the trend line is incredibly positive. Are there fewer strays to pick up?"

Ogas said animal control has done more responses, so the responses have gone up. "We know animal control has not decreased. The intent is to work with owners."

She explained that when she says Grant County, it is excluding the municipalities. "Occasionally we will take some in from Hidalgo County, Bayard, Santa Clara, Hurley and Catron County, but most are from the county, not the towns."

"We implemented the micro-chipping at the vaccination clinics a little over a year ago," Ogas said. "Every animal is now micro-chipped when it is adopted. We also offer the micro-chipping for $25 at our vaccination clinics on the second Saturday of every month. It is up to the individual to keep the registration up. The first year comes with extra perks, such as an amber alert for the pet. We are hoping to see return-to-owner numbers go up. We have a scanner that reads the chips from seven companies, but it is possible we may not be able to read a specific chip.

"I'm very excited about our new ordinance," she continued. "We have additional permits required for dangerous dogs and litter-bearing animals, for instance. If a person is selling puppies or kittens, he should have on a board nearby the permit for the litter. Within a couple of weeks, we should be enforcing the requirement for the permits. Mike Burns has been meeting with Judge Maurine Laney on new citation aspects of the ordinance. "

She noted that adoption rates are at 53 percent. "We will start putting them in the newspaper quarterly, as well as the number of those euthanized as unadoptable animals. We have kept some pets for as long as nine months."

"We have individual or group cremation options," Ogas said. "You can buy a plaque to put on the memorial wall."

The fees for the vaccination clinic are $10 for rabies. "It's a reduced fee and a fundraiser for the society."

Ogas said she would be doing a talk on what no-kill is really and how to achieve it. "We are very close. We have set a goal for the next 10 years for a better adoption facility, with better care, and a better meet-and-greet area, as well as programming for how to choose a pet that is the best fit for a person adopting."

Edwards asked if the new ordinance sometimes has an implementation problem.

"There may not be too many problems," Ogas said. "We're already citing people. For instance, the new litter permitG